Part IX: Ancient Tibetan Source on Dzi Beads – Traditional Categories and Hierarchies of Precious Dzi
Dzi Associated with Mystical Beings and Forces
Several Dzi patterns and formations are linked to mystical energies and beings, including:
- རྒྱལ་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་འདའ་ཀ་ (Rgyal Po Chen Po ’Da’ Ka) – The Supreme King’s Dzi
- བླ་གཡུང་དྲུང་མ་ (Bla G.yung Drung Ma) – The Dzi of the Eternal Bon Deities
- མེ་ཏོག་མཛེས་དགུ་ (Me Tog Mdzes Dgu) – The Nine Beautiful Lotus Dzi
Each of these rare and precious Dzi formations represents deep spiritual and mystical significance.
Sacred Ritual Usage of Dzi Stones
In ancient Tibetan rituals, Dzi stones were offered as sacred relics to deities and protectors. These included:
- ལྷ་གསས་དགུ་ (Lha Gsas Dgu) – The Nine Celestial Offerings
- རི་ནག་པོ་དགུ་ (Ri Nag Po Dgu) – The Nine Sacred Mountain Ranges
- མཚོ་གླིང་འབྲུ་མིག་དགུ་ (Mtsho Gling ’Bru Mig Dgu) – The Nine Cosmic Island Eyes
Many of these Dzi stones were kept as divine heirlooms in monasteries, temples, and sacred shrines.
Dzi as a Protective Amulet
According to ancient Tibetan beliefs, wearing a Dzi:
✔️ Repels negative forces and evil spirits
✔️ Enhances spiritual awareness and clarity
✔️ Strengthens physical health and vitality
✔️ Increases prosperity and good fortune
The most sought-after Dzi amulets include:
- གཟི་གྲུ་མིག་དྲུག་ (Dzi Gru Mig Drug) – Six-Eyed Dzi
- གཟི་གྲུ་མིག་བརྒྱད་ (Dzi Gru Mig Brgyad) – Eight-Eyed Dzi
- གཟི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ (Dzi Rgyal Po) – The Royal Dzi
- གཟི་དྭངས་མ་ (Dzi Dwangs Ma) – The Pure Crystal Dzi
These Dzi carry deep spiritual meaning and are considered sacred relics.
གཟི་སྟག་ལོག། (Dzi Stag Log – Tiger Stripe Dzi)
The གཟི་སྟག་ལོག (Dzi Stag Log) is characterized by a rounded shape. Based on its patterns, it is classified into different types:
- ཆུ་རིས་ཅན། (Water-patterned)
- འཇའ་རིས་ཅན། (Rainbow-patterned)
- ཐག་རིས་ཅན། (Thread-patterned)
- རྐྱང་མ། (Plain)
- དྲྭ་སོ་ཅན། (Netted-patterned)
Among them, the གཟི་སྟག་ལོག་དྲྭ་ཅན། (Netted-patterned Tiger Stripe Dzi) is the most common.
གནམ་ས་ཁ་སྤྲོད། (Sky-Earth Connection in Dzi Stones)
In གཟི་ནག་རིལ་ཅན། (Dark Swirl Dzi), a single thread-like pattern is often found at the center, sometimes accompanied by fine lines. This is known as གནམ་ས་ཞེས་པ། (Sky-Earth Connection), symbolizing the link between the heavens (light) and the earth (darkness). Some refer to this type of Dzi as དཀར་ཁྲ་མན། (Kar-Khra-Man – White-Tiger Striped).
པདྨ་བུམ་པ། (Pema Bum – Lotus Vase Dzi)
Among rounded Dzi stones, the བུམ་པ། (Bum-pa – Vase Dzi) is highly revered. It is further classified into:
- བུམ་པ་དྲུག་དང་གཅིག་གི་བཅད། (Six-stacked Vase)
- བུམ་པ་ཚེ་བུམ་གྱི་བཅད། (Life Vase Engraving)
- བུམ་པ་སྤྲོད། (Lotus Vase with Two Petals)
Some Pema Bum Dzi belong to the གཟི་སྟག་ལོག། (Tiger Stripe Dzi) category. The བུམ་པ་ཅན། (Lotus Vase Pattern) is widely admired.
ཆུ་གཟི། (Water-patterned Dzi)
Many ཆུ་གཟི། (Water-patterned Dzi) feature མིག་དགུ་པ། (Nine-Eye Patterns). The stone material is often གཡང་ཊི།(Serpentine) or ཤེལ་དཀར། (Milky Quartz), giving it the name ཤེལ་གཟི། (Crystal Dzi) or ཆུ་གཟི། (Water Dzi). Some ancient Dzi stones exhibit aged translucency due to heat exposure over time.
གཟི་མཆོང་གཟི། (Jumping Dzi) & ཤིང་གཟི། (Tree Dzi)
Other special Dzi stones include:
- མཆོང་གཟི། (Jumping Dzi)
- ཤིང་གཟི། (Tree Dzi)
- རྣམ་སྲས་གཟི། (Bodhisattva Dzi)
- བསྡམས་དཀྲིས། (Tied Thread Dzi)
གཡང་གཟི། (Fortune Dzi)
The གཡང་གཟི། (Yak Dzi) is associated with wealth and is sometimes used as a substitute for a damaged Dzi stone. It retains spiritual power despite being incomplete.
མཐུ་དང་མནན་པ། (Mystical & Empowered Dzi)
Some གཟི། stones are believed to possess supernatural powers and are known as མཐུ་དང་མནན་པ། (Mystical & Subjugating Dzi). These stones protect their owner and ward off misfortune.